Running The Gauntlet
by foxfire79
Summary: Lilah and Cullen have embarked on their romantic relationship, and all of their friends have decided to lend them a helping hand. Though some of their 'helpful' ideas may not be to the Inquisitor and the Commander's liking. So much for keeping their relationship a secret! Rated M for adult situations and occasional swearing. Directly follows 'I Dreamed a Dream (of banana pancakes).
1. Keeping Secrets Part 01

Running the Gauntlet - A Dragon Age Inquistion Fan Fiction by Foxfire79 (Cullen/Inquisitor)

Disclaimer: I don't work for Bioware, nor have I ever been involved with the creation of any of the characters within the Dragon Age universe. I'm just playing with them (as we were meant to). The only original characters are the ones I created in-game, and have brought over to the fanfic universe, namely Lilah Trevelyan, my human female rogue Inquisitor who is now living through a second incarnation and yet another play-through (and another romance with Cullen, of course). Apparently I still like being a rogue, human and female. Who knew?

Insert words here!

~Lilah's Morning~

As Lilah dashed down the shortcut which led to Solas' chambers, she relived the events of the previous night in her head. She and the Commander... No no no, She and Cullen... They'd decided to try it. Being in a relationship together. A proper relationship, with the 'getting to know one another' and the 'deep conversations about their fundamental beliefs'. Oh, and the physical aspect as well, of course. She could feel her cheeks growing pink with the memory of his hands roaming all over her skin this morning, his lips on her neck, his tongue gently caressing the shell of her ear... Maker's Breath, what was wrong with her? It's not like she was a blushing virgin, but it had been about ten years since her last romantic interlude, and that had not ended well. Maybe that was the reason why every time she came into contact with his body she responded so... explosively. He'd barely touched her, they'd still had half of their clothes on for goodness sake, and still she'd... and twice! I mean, the first time she could blame it all on the Harlot's Blush, but this morning... No. Her body had clearly realised that she was about to break a ten year drought, and it was letting her know how pleased it was by over-reacting every time the handsome ex-templar threw her a passing glance.

She reached the door and slammed both of her hands against it, trying to dismiss her embarrassing thoughts before she ran into her stoic elven mage. With whom she still had to have a very serious chat about rare blossoms and how they shouldn't just be handed out all willy-nilly. The bolt on the other side of the door lifted in response to the loud bang she'd made on arrival, and she found herself looking up into the elf's slightly bleary eyes.

"Good morning, Solas!"

She chirped it rather brightly, and found her right hand reaching up to her hair to re-check it for any tell-tale messiness. The elven mage looked her over, blinking in confusion.

"Good morning, Trevelyan. Why...?"

She pushed past him, hurrying through his quarters and rushing toward the door that led to the main hall.

"No time to talk, Solas, sorry! I'm running late! See you when we get back!"

Solas looked after her retreating figure, a slightly bemused look settling across his face.

"Well then. It seems my meddling panned out after all."

He was going to enjoy his next few days off. Maybe he'd go and tease the Knight Captain again later.

Lilah paused at the next door as it led directly out into the main hall, and she could already hear the voices of people starting to mill around, most likely hoping to catch a glimpse of their beloved Inquisitor. She took a deep breath, patted her hair down once more, and slipped through the door as quietly as possible. She edged her way down the hall, hugging her body as closely to the wall as she could, and managed to make it to her own door unmolested. She pelted up the stairs and into her bedchamber, undoing the buttons on her jacket as she went. The one good thing about wearing armour was that she didn't have to wear a corset underneath it. She grabbed at the top of the restrictive garment and tried not to think about Cullen doing almost the exact same thing earlier that morning. She imagined she could still feel her skin burning from his touch, and she growled in annoyance when the hooks and eyes refused to bend to her will. She almost jumped out of her skin when a cheery voice called out to her from the vicinity of her desk.

"You know, I could just slice that open for you, Lize. Then we might actually get out of here on time!"

Lilah's hand flew up to her throat, then the chair spun around slowly revealing Sera sitting with her legs crossed on the seat.

"Gah! Sera, what on Thedas are you...?"

The eleven rogue stood up, stretching, her neck cracking loudly.

"Doing here? Well, I was hoping to catch you mid-shag with your secret lover man, but it looks like you spent the night at his. Wherever that is, you sneaky, sneaky thing you. You do have a nice glow about you, though. So he must have been very good, whoever he is. Yay you!"

Lilah sighed, and continued to undress facing away from Sera, grabbing her armour from the dummy by the wardrobe.

"How long have you been here, Sera? I could have you arrested for sneaking around my personal chamber, you know."

Sera gave a dismissive snort and moved closer to help Lilah with the buckles on her chest plate.

"Pfft! Don't be daft, you like me too much! Besides, I was only concerned for your welfare. If he'd shagged you too hard, you never would have taken us out on our dragon hunting trip today. And you did promise. I just didn't want to be the one to tell Iron Bull that it wasn't happening. An angry qunari... I don't even want to think about it."

Sera shuddered, her eyes closing, and Lilah chuckled softly. She slipped her feet into her knee-high leather boots and tightened the buckles, then threw her dark brown leather duster over the top. It was very cold on these early mountain mornings. She walked over to her wash basin, splashed some cold water on her face and neck, and wiped it off again with the towel hanging below. She felt a sad pang in her chest when she realised she was removing any traces that Cullen may have left on her, then closed her eyes and pressed her lips together tightly. This was getting ridiculous. She ran her wet fingers through her hair, followed this with a quick brushing and tied it back tightly in her usual no nonsense ponytail. She turned to look at Sera, and found her looking her over, appraisingly.

"How do I look?"

Sera nodded, and folded her arms.

"Very professional. Not at all like you just took the longest 'walk of shame' ever, then threw this look together in five minutes."

Lilah sighed once more, and sheathed her daggers on her back.

"Shut up, you. Let's just... find the others and get going."

Sera clapped her on the back, walking jauntily beside her.

"Oh, come on Lize! I'm just joking around, you look fine. We've already got all the supplies ready, and Dorian has your breakfast waiting for you. The horses are saddled, the tents are loaded, all you have to do is show up. Oh, and you might want to adjust your collar... like so."

Sera pulled the collar of Lilah's undershirt up to cover something on the right hand side of her neck. Cullen had clearly been leaving marks on her again. Damn him and his beautiful body! Lilah's head dropped in defeat, and she looked up at Sera slowly. The elven girl was clearly holding back an onslaught of giggles.

"Thanks Sera."

Sera looked away, then let loose with a snort followed by a massive bout of giggles. In the couple of minutes it took her to catch her breath, they'd reached the front gates where Dorian and The Iron Bull were waiting by the horses.

"No probs, Lize. Don't want just anyone knowing that your blight sickness... is spreading..."

The blonde elf almost collapsed with laughter, causing Dorian and Iron Bull to look down at her first, then over to Lilah, questioningly. Lilah took the now cooling slice of toast from Dorian's fingers and started munching on it industrially, ignoring the giggling elven rogue. Lilah grabbed the reins of her favourite horse, the dark blue roan she'd lovingly nicknamed 'Blueberry', and hefted herself into the saddle. Iron Bull looked down at Sera who was now leaning heavily on her knees, trying to calm her breathing.

"I don't even want to know what that was about."

He mounted up on the large black and white cart horse beside her, handing her an apple to go with her toast. Lilah nodded her thanks, wiping the crumbs from her face with her sleeve. Dorian clambered up on his grey horse on her other side, looking at her curiously, seeming to note her upturned collar with interest.

"I do. I'm very curious as to what could have sent Sera into such a state this early in the day. Usually she's grumpy."

Lilah shrugged as Sera regained her senses and mounted her strawberry blonde horse on the other side of Iron Bull.

"Who knows? Anyway, daylight's burning. Let's head off to Hafter's Woods and seek out that mercenary stronghold. And keep an eye out for logging stands."

Iron Bull flicked the reins, heading out through the gates.

"Sure thing boss. Then we're going after the dragon, right?"

Lilah grinned, slipping the apple into her saddlebag for later, all thoughts of Cullen disappearing for a brief moment as she imagined Iron Bull taking on a dragon, one-on-one.

"That's the plan, Bull. That is the plan."

Sera slipped into the spot Bull had left empty by moving forward, and nudged Lilah's arm, a cheeky smile crossing her face.

"Are you certain your lover boy will be able to live without you for a few nights? And vice versa. Can you deal with not having him leave more love bites on you?"

Lilah looked over at Sera in a panic, her eyes growing wide.

"Sera! Be quiet, people might hear you! I'll... WE'LL be fine, I'm certain. Now don't bring it up again!"

Lilah nudged Blueberry with the heels of her boots and she cantered off after Iron Bull. Dorian threw Sera a sharp look and she looked away, innocently, then urged her horse forward as well. He looked off into the distance where Lilah's horse had taken the lead for their expedition.

"Interesting. I think I need to have a little chat with my dear long-lost cousin."

He urged his horse into a gallop, following after the other three members of the team, the early morning light glinting off the buckles on his saddle. This was going to be an interesting trip indeed.

~Cullen's Morning~

Cullen cinched the leather belt holding his chest plate together a little tighter and eyed his reflection in the mirror. The smug little half smile still hadn't dropped from his lips yet. He and the Inquisitor... No no no, Lilah and he... They were together. The smile tugged even harder at the corners of his mouth as he recalled her words... She could grow to love him, in time. He knew that he was well on the way to falling himself, he was just glad her feelings were along the same lines as his. And she certainly seemed to enjoy his company. So far the few kisses and touches they'd shared, well... as unlearned as he was in the romantic arts, he could gauge from her reactions that he seemed to be doing something right. Extremely right if you were keeping a tally of any kind. The sounds she made when he kissed her throat... That sigh with the slight catch to it as she moaned when he'd brushed against her womanhood... He could feel himself growing hard again just thinking about it. Yes, physically there didn't seem to be any issues between them. But there was no time for that now.

Since Josephine already knew he was awake, there would be no escaping the early morning advisor's meeting. He splashed some cold water on his face, frowning when he saw how thick his stubble was. He'd shave later, surely Josephine and Leliana would forgive him for looking a little scruffy after a full day's convalescence. He ran his wet fingers through his hair, then pulled his brush through it, styling it as flatly as he could, then climbed back down the ladder to his office and grabbed his sword, securing it in the scabbard at his waist. His stomach growled loudly as he began to head out the door, so he changed direction, heading toward the door leading down to the stables and the rear of the kitchen.

He could hear voices near the front gate and his steps slowed as he saw Lilah, Sera, Iron Bull and Dorian milling around their horses while getting ready to leave on their trip. Lilah seemed to be eating a slice of toast, while Sera was laughing so hard she seemed to be almost ready to collapse on the ground. His eyes stayed on Lilah though, and he heard himself gasp as she mounted her horse with such ease. Only a mere hour ago, those lithe legs of hers had been wrapped around him... No, he couldn't think about it now. He willed the dirty thoughts away, and hoped that his groin would obey the order. When he turned to look at her again, all four horses were already well on their way out of the gates and down the mountain path. He breathed out a small sigh of relief, but he also felt a sad twinge in his chest. He wouldn't be seeing Lilah for a few days. He shouldn't have felt so downtrodden, seeing as their romance was brand new, but still... He would miss her. He always missed her.

He headed up the steps into the kitchen, pushing the door open to a cluster of rather starstruck kitchen staff.

"That there Dorian, I don't care if he's from Tevinter, he's certainly easy on the eyes..."

"That Iron Bull, though... The things the serving girls in the tavern say about him... I wouldn't mind riding the bull if you know what I mean..."

"The elf does it for me. That choppy haircut, those chunky boots, the skin-tight armour... Phwoar!"

Cullen cleared his throat, announcing his entrance, and the chatter stopped. He edged around to where the cheese and bread were stored and grabbed a large chunk of both before heading into the bowels of the castle. As the door closed behind him, he heard the girls start giggling behind it.

"Oh, and then there's HIM... Commander Cullen..."

He heard what sounded like a collective sigh from the entire group, and he shook his head as he headed up the stairs leading to Josephine's vestibule. She wasn't there, which meant she was probably already in the council room. It still seemed rather odd to him that she'd be coming up the stairs that led down to the stables to come and see him in his office. The closer entrance would be Solas' shortcut, but she probably hadn't wanted to disturb the elven mage's sleep. That didn't explain the straw in her hair though. He puzzled about it a few more seconds while he opened the door and found her, Leliana and Cassandra huddled over the map table, shuffling the markers around. They all looked up as he entered, Cassandra throwing a slightly annoyed look in his direction.

"I certainly hope you're feeling better today, Cullen. You missed an entire day of missives, messengers and general mayhem."

Cullen nodded, rubbing the back of his neck self consciously. Her abrasive manner this early in the morning after one of the best nights of his life was just a little too much of a shock to his system. He decided to play the one sympathetic card that he knew she'd react to.

"Yes, sorry. I believe you understand the circumstances of my illness better than anyone, Cassandra. It won't happen again. At least for a while."

He might have imagined it, but he swore he could see a touch of red colouring her high cheekbones.

"Uh, yes, I understand. Please keep me informed if you need any more help with your... condition."

Josephine coughed all of a sudden, and looked away from the table. Cassandra gathered up her things and began to head for the door. He assumed this meant that seeing as he was back in action, she was free to continue her normal daily routine.

"Good day, Cassandra."

Leliana bid the taller woman farewell, and all she received was a slight shrug in response. She sighed and turned back towards Cullen, a small smile gracing her lips.

"And welcome back Commander. Is that your breakfast?"

She glanced down at the huge chunks of bread and cheese in his hands and he nodded, placing them on the table.

"Would you like some? I fear I slept in this morning and missed the bell for breakfast. This was all I could grab from the kitchen before the staff... Uh, for want of a better phrase, attacked me with kindness."

Josephine almost choked as she started coughing again, and both Leliana and Cullen shot sharp looks at her. She covered her mouth and looked down studiously at the map, cheeks turning pink. Leliana smiled at him kindly, breaking a small corner off the cheese wedge to nibble on.

"Ah yes, the kitchen staff. They fall in love so easily with authority figures. You should see them when the Inquisitor goes in there, they almost faint with joy. That being said, are you feeling well this morning? Your colour seems to have improved..."

Josephine stifled another giggle, and Leliana turned towards her, one eyebrow raised.

"Is there something you need to say, Josie?"

Josephine shook her head, looking away toward the window, and Cullen spotted another piece of straw sticking out of the golden sash she wore as a belt. He leaned forward deftly, snatching it before Josephine had a chance to snatch it, and looked at it curiously. What on Thedas could she possibly have been doing in the stables that she'd end up with hay through her hair and through her clothes...? Oh Maker. His eyes widened at the realisation, and his lips turned up at the corners. He could play the game just as well as anyone if he had the right ammunition.

Josephine turned back to the table, and suddenly noticed Cullen holding yet another piece of straw between his fingers. She noticed the look in his eyes, and the smug smile on his features, and decided she had to act.

"Cullen and the Inquisitor are sleeping together!"

Cullen set his jaw and narrowed his eyes, pointing at her across the map table.

"You're shagging Blackwall!"

Josephine gasped, her hand flying up to her throat as she searched for something to say in return. Leliana just tore a piece off the bread Cullen had brought in and chewed on it, smiling to herself. Cullen and Josephine's stand-off didn't seem to be going anywhere. Leliana swallowed her mouthful, then glanced up at both of them.

"So what? Who cares! You're all adults, you can sleep with whomever you want to. Besides, this is all old news to me anyway."

Josephine and Cullen both turned to look at her, slightly shocked. Cullen more so, because technically he was yet to actually sleep with the Inquisitor in the sense that Josephine was speaking about. They'd only been playing around so far. He could feel his cheeks turning red though. Josephine looked over at Leliana, exasperated.

"But, but... I was so careful! There was no-one around when I sneaked over to the stables, I always checked!"

Leliana simply raised her other eyebrow, and smiled knowingly. Josephine visibly deflated, defeated.

"Ah, there's no sneaking around you. You are the spymaster after all. So have long have you known about us? Ser Blackwall and I, I mean."

Leliana swallowed the second piece of cheese she'd sneakily taken while Cullen wasn't looking, and wiped a crumb from the corner of her mouth.

"Since the night you started, of course, about three months ago. I have eyes everywhere, Josie, you should know that by now."

Josephine pointed an accusatory finger at Cullen over the table, and he glanced over at Leliana to see what her reaction would be. She said nothing more, so Josephine sighed, and calmed herself.

"And how long have you known about the Inquisitor and Cullen?"

Leliana smiled over at him, her eyes twinkling with mirth, and he found himself looking away, blushing.

"Oh, watching those two has been so much fun. They're both so clueless, it's adorable."

Cullen scoffed at this, dismissively waving his hand in the spymaster's direction.

"I am in no way adorable! And Lilah and I..."

Josephine leaned over the table, grinning widely.

"Oh, so it's Lilah now, is it? You've never called her by her first name before. Things must be progressing nicely..."

Leliana placed a hand on her arm, eyes still twinkling in Cullen's direction.

"Oh Josie, it's nothing like that. Our Cullen is a proper gentleman. They've barely done anything untoward, though I do believe the Inquisitor spent the night with our smitten Commander last night. From the look of her, though... I still don't think she's been completely satisfied."

Josephine's eyes got the same twinkle in them as Leliana's, and Cullen found himself edging slightly closer to the door.

"Oh, how sweet."

How did he keep finding himself in these situations? First it had been all the flirty but slightly uncomfortable conversations he'd had with Lilah, although those had led to them eventually becoming closer. He could look back at those talks fondly now, but at the time... Maker, he hadn't known what to say. And here he was again, reduced to a blushing, silent mess. This was... intolerable.

"What the Inquisitor and I do in our free time is none of your business. Either of your business'. And yes, I am a gentleman, and no we haven't done... what you're discussing yet. We've literally only been together for two days."

Leliana puffed out a breath, rolling her eyes.

"So all of those little chats you two had were just that? Little chats. Ugh, how old are you again?"

Cullen crossed his arms, glaring across the table at her.

"What does it matter?"

Leliana strolled around the other side of the table, linking her arm through his.

"Cullen, it only took a few weeks for Alistair and Ceridwen to get together, and they were on the road, fighting darkspawn. With Zevran interfering the entire time, no less. You two have known each other for over six months and what? Have you even kissed her yet?"

She began leading him towards the door, Josephine hurriedly grabbing up her writing board to follow them.

"So, the meeting's cancelled then?"

Leliana threw a look at her over her shoulder, opening the heavy door leading back out into the corridor.

"This is more important than the meeting, Josie. I'm not sure how to say this, but... Cullen, have you ever actually... been with a woman?"

He raised his unencumbered hand and rubbed the back of his neck, wishing for all the world that he was anywhere but here. Maker help him...

END OF PART 01

Ta da! Here's the beginning of it, I told you guys I'd be getting a lot of stuff written during my holidays. So this is the beginning of 'Running the Gauntlet', the sequel to my other story 'I Dreamed a Dream (of banana pancakes)'. I'm not even going to try and guess how long this thing is going to be, chapter one was only going to be one part and now it's already two parts. As long as you guys are enjoying it, I'll keep writing it. As always, read, review and enjoy! Part two coming soon!

Foxfire out!


	2. Keeping Secrets Part 02

Running the Gauntlet - A Dragon Age Inquistion Fan Fiction by Foxfire79 (Cullen/Inquisitor)

Disclaimer: I don't work for Bioware, nor have I ever been involved with the creation of any of the characters within the Dragon Age universe. I'm just playing with them (as we were meant to). The only original characters are the ones I created in-game, and have brought over to the fanfic universe, namely Lilah Trevelyan, my human female rogue Inquisitor who is now living through a second incarnation and yet another playthrough (and another romance with Cullen, of course). Apparently I still like being a rogue, human and female. Who knew?

Make with the story already!

~Lilah's afternoon~

Lilah's day was turning out fairly well. They'd stumbled across a couple of logging stands, so Morris would be happy. They'd also stumbled upon a few groups of red templars, so they'd managed to pick up a few extra weapons and random bits and pieces to sell on return to Skyhold. Lilah had managed to lose her horse again, though. She'd leapt from Blueberry's saddle to land on one of the red templar's backs, and the dagger he'd been throwing at her glanced off the poor horse's left flank. Blueberry had snorted disdainfully, reared up and kicked the unfortunate evil-doer in the head, then trotted off happily back down the trail to Skyhold. Lilah would have to share a mount for the rest of the trip. They'd moved around a natural rocky outcrop when Iron Bull dropped to his knees, signalling the rest of the group to follow suit. He motioned Lilah forward and she half crawled to his position as quietly as she could.

"Look there. Just over that bridge... Does that look like a mercenary stronghold to you?"

The place looked palatial, a veritable oasis among the trees and rocks of the Hinterland wilderness around them. She could see a few men patrolling the two towers, and a couple of others patrolling the bridge just ahead of them.

"How many do you think you can take?"

Iron Bull glanced at her, a smile tugging on his lips.

"What kind of stupid-ass question is that?"

Lilah sighed, grinning back at him.

"Fine. Just leave a few for the rest of us, alright. Don't be a glory stealer."

Iron Bull stood up, cracking his neck and flexing his chest muscles slightly. Lilah looked away, trying to hide her exasperated look.

"When do I ever steal the glory, Boss. Let's go!"

He hefted himself over the row of bushes they'd been crouching behind and started stalking towards the guards at the bridge. Dorian tapped her on the shoulder, making her turn around.

"So, are we advancing then? Just checking."

Lilah smiled at him, and gestured to where Iron Bull seemed to be winning the battle with no problem.

"Just get out there, Dorian."

She couldn't help but notice him studying her neck, so she tweaked her collar back up into the upright position. He smirked, twirling his staff between his fingers.

"We need to have a little chat later, cousin dear. No excuses, and no running away."

Lilah pulled her daggers from their sheaths, feeling their familiar weight in her hands.

"Fine. But right now we need to get out there and... assist the big guy."

The big guy in question was happily swinging his great-sword around, laughing his head off while hacking at his opponents. Sera was darting about behind him, firing arrows into the mercenaries unprotected areas as they stumbled around in confusion.

"Actually, they seem to be doing fine on their own. Let's move on up to the castle."

She and Dorian hurried up the path towards the castle gates, when something caught her eye.

"Hey, look! Another one of those shard-finders!"

Dorian sighed as Lilah diverted up an almost invisible trail and gazed through the eyes of the admittedly creepy contraption before sliding back down to where he was. Iron Bull and Sera were also hurrying up the path toward them, carrying a few extra swords in their packs. Lilah had taught them to always plunder the dead enemies. It did seem to be an easy way to make gold.

"Right, let's head in."

The two large men carrying sledgehammers seemed to be rather surprised to see four random strangers standing in the vestibule of the castle, then they both snapped into action. Dorian froze one of them to the spot and Lilah started slicing into him as Iron Bull yanked the other man closer to him and deftly sliced through his neck. The head rolled to a stop beside Sera's boots, and she looked down at it in disgust. She kicked it away, then continued firing at the frozen-on-the-spot mercenary.

"Ewww... Bull, that's disgusting! I got blood on my boots! You owe me an ale!"

Bull roared with laughter as he sliced into the midsection of the mercenary Lilah was still attacking. The mercenary looked up at the huge qunari warrior, clutched his bleeding midsection and collapsed on the ground, dead. The ground was still slick with ice around the body so the group decided to check out the small antechamber to the right. Lilah stumbled into the pitch black room and immediately tripped over an ankle high stool, almost landing face first on a large chest. She stumbled to her knees and unlocked the box, smiling at what she found inside.

"Ooh. Hey Sera, I just found some Ferelden heraldry tapestries. We can hang them up around Skyhold, make it seem a bit more 'homey' for you. What do you think?"

Sera looked at the swatch of fabric in her hands, and wrinkled her nose.

"Ferelden used to be home for me. Now Skyhold is my home. I don't care what heraldry you hang up, it's all just dusty fabric to me. Oh, but errr, thank you for thinking of me, Lize."

Lilah noticed the hurried backtracking and smiled understandingly. Sera was still getting used to having other people thinking about her, and not wanting anything in return. She was improving in her manners though.

"Isn't Commander Cullen from Ferelden as well?"

Iron Bull's random comment sent Lilah's mind back to Cullen's bedroom. She wondered what his reaction would be if she appeared in his room draped in nothing but a Ferelden heraldry banner... Ooh, Sweet Maker... She could feel her cheeks growing red at the very thought of him pulling her close to him and ever so slowly unwrapping the fabric from her skin, his lips settling on every new area of bared flesh. Lilah thanked her lucky stars that room was as dark as it was. Hopefully nobody would notice her glowing cheeks. They walked back out into the courtyard, Lilah rubbing her cheeks brusquely as if trying to warm her face. Dorian looked at her, a slight grin flitting across his face. Lilah looked away and headed up the large stone stairway ahead of them, noticing a ladder leading up into the left hand tower.

"Oiy, you lot! Stop right there!"

Fantastic. Were none of the mercenaries under seven feet tall? And why did they all have the same sledgehammers, had there been a sale somewhere? Lilah set her jaw, thankful that she hadn't bothered re-sheathing her daggers, and leapt up the stairs to flank the man as Iron Bull attacked from the front. For all their size, the mercenaries weren't that much of a challenge. Lilah grabbed a handful of gold coins from the dead man's waistband and slipped them into her own coin purse, then turned around and headed back towards the ladder. When she reached the top, however...

"Oh, Balls!"

An axe swung at her head as soon as her face reached the level of the floor. She hurriedly stabbed at the man's ankle and as he hopped off-balance for a couple of seconds she managed to finish climbing up and dash behind him onto the narrow wooden bridge he'd been patrolling. Hopefully he'd come after her and leave the rest of her group alone so they could safely climb up the ladder and come to her aid. Thankfully that was exactly what happened, and Dorian managed to stab him through with an ice spike, making Iron Bull's deathblow even more explosive than usual. Sera looked down at the steadily spreading bloodstain, and her slightly bloodier boots.

"Ugh! He was a messy one. I think I need to buy new boots when we get back. Even if I clean these ones... No. Just no."

Lilah chuckled, puffing a few loose strands of hair out of her eyes.

"I'll get you the boots, Sera. We don't have to pay, remember. Harritt makes all of our armour special order."

Sera nodded, picking a piece of... something from her boot, and frowning.

"Yeah, I know that, but I still always give him a little something for all his trouble. Like some gold, or a cake."

Lilah usually did exactly the same thing. Or just crafted everything herself, with Harritt overseeing.

"We'll bring him back something nice. Oh, and all of the new crafting materials we've been picking up too. Those should make him happy."

They moved across the bridge onto the first platform which was thankfully empty, and had a brief look at their surroundings. No chests, no books, no random maps just left lying about. Iron Bull hefted his great-sword over his shoulder and started marching down to the central platform. Lilah could make out at least three more mercenaries waiting there, and the huge fellow in the middle who could possibly be their leader.

"Well, look what we have here boys. Visitors! Let's show them some hospitality, shall we?!"

The leader immediately attacked Iron Bull, assuming he was the leader of the group, while Lilah, Dorian and Sera quickly took care of the three smaller men. Bull actually seemed to be taking a beating. After knocking the leader down for a third time, he grabbed one of his healing potions from his belt and almost threw the contents down his throat. Dorian quickly threw an ice glyph in the leader's general direction, grabbing Bull's arm.

"Do you want healing, Bull?"

The Iron Bull shook his hand off, snorting, glaring at the leader of the mercenaries who was once again climbing to his feet.

"What I want is for that son of a bitch to go down and stay down! Oh, and I want his axe too!"

Dorian stepped back, looking slightly bemused.

"So, no healing then?"

Bull threw the Tevinter mage a sideways glance, still puffing air angrily out of his nostrils.

"No healing."

Sera flipped backwards, landing deftly on her feet after firing off a volley of arrows into the now ailing leader's back, and looked at the two men.

"If it's not too much trouble, can we hurry up and kill this guy? My fingers are getting tired."

She knelt down and aimed straight at the man's chest, claiming an almost perfect bulls-eye, but still he wouldn't go down. Lilah growled and jumped onto his back, stabbing him repeatedly in the shoulder where there was a small gap in his armour.

"Why won't you bloody die?!"

His right arm finally started to fail him and he fell to his knees, bringing Lilah down with him. She started in on his left shoulder, but cried out as he grabbed her around the middle and threw her to the ground. Before she could move he'd clambered on top of her, and had wrapped his gauntleted hands around her throat.

"Down you go, pesky little kitten. You think your claws can harm me?"

His fingers tightened, and Lilah's vision began to blur, but she continued pushing her dagger into his left shoulder. Just as she was about to black out she felt a rush of cool air above her, then a cascade of liquid running down her neck and into her armour. Her now headless attacker's body collapsed on top of her, and in her oxygen starved state the one thought that sprang to her mind was that she'd enjoyed Cullen's body pressing her down a lot more than she was enjoying this. Then the pressure of the dead body and it's armour was released and she could breath again. Lilah drew in a ragged breath, then started coughing. Sera crouched down beside her, patting her on the back and looking her over for any obvious wounds. She sighed with relief when Lilah shot her a small smile and a rather weak thumbs up.

"She's fine, just got some rather nasty bruises on her neck..."

Lilah's fingers flew up to her throat, and Sera nodded.

"Yes, they hide the love bites, but that was a fairly epic way to hide them. I mean, you could have died!"

Lilah coughed again, then cleared her throat.

"Yes, but I didn't."

Sera gave her a light shake, glaring angrily into her eyes, but Lilah could tell that below the anger was a hastily hidden fear.

"Yeah, but you could have! So don't do daft stuff like take on monsters five times your size, alright?! I don't want to be the one to tell your advisor's you died while trying to get a fancy set of armour and a wicked axe off some giant arsehole!"

Lilah raised her hands in submission, and Sera looked reasonabley placated.

"Alright, alright. I'll be more careful."

She certainly wouldn't be telling Cullen about this little adventure, that's for sure.

~Cullen's afternoon~

Well, that had certainly been an eye-opener. Cullen sat in his desk chair, massaging his forehead as he thought about the myriad of information Leliana and Josephine had bombarded him with that morning. And the questions, Maker's Breath! He knew it would be easier to answer them truthfully because he knew they both had ways of finding out things through other channels, but really?! Did they have to know everything? It had all started when Leliana had asked him if he'd ever been with a woman before and he'd had to answer truthfully that no, he had not. The two women had stared at him, dumbfounded, for a moment, but at least neither of them had the audacity to laugh at him. In fact, they both seemed to look at him with more respect than usual.

"That's a good thing, you know. If you'd been some sort of womaniser back in Ferelden or Kirkwall, I'm fairly certain Trevelyan's interest wouldn't be as avid as it is. If I recall correctly she's only had one or two lovers herself, and it's possible that she was only physical with one of them. As far as I can tell, she hasn't 'been with' anyone for at least five years, possibly longer."

Leliana's information net certainly was widespread. How could she possibly know anything about Lilah's love life back in Ostwick? Still, information was information, and it looked like at least SHE would know what they were doing when they ended up consumating their relationship. He didn't mind at all that she'd had other lovers, just as long as he was the only man on her mind, and in her bed, right now. There was no point at all in being jealous about the ghosts of the past. Then they'd started asking about his past, and if he'd ever been in love before. Leliana had interjected here again.

"When I met you, back in Kinloch Hold, I doubt you would have been of a mind to be romancing anyone. That demon... He truly did a number on you. Though I do recall one thing... You dropping to one knee before our lovely Ceridwen and offering her any assistance she might require. I believe you may have even kissed her hand..."

Cullen had blushed slightly remembering the even itself and had immediately jumped to his own defence.

"In my own defence, Leliana, the woman had just rescued me from certain death. And you yourself can attest to the fact that Ceridwen Cousland is a very beautiful woman. I was a little... awestruck. Then I did notice that Alistair was almost growling at me when I touched her, so I thought it would be best if I didn't pursue her."

Leliana had laughed at this, covering her mouth.

"Oh yes, poor Ali, he was so confused at that point. And that was before Zevran showed up and made matters even worse. I'm so glad they sorted everything out in the end."

Josephine's gaze had traveled between the two of them, and she'd smiled.

"I'd forgotten that you two had met back then. What was that, just over ten years ago?"

Leliana had sighed, drawing a hand wearily across her hair.

"Oh yes. Time does fly when one is adventuring."

They'd questioned him about Rhiannon Hawke as well, knowing that he'd had more interactions with her, but again he specifically told them that it had not been romantic, for fear of disembowelment by her surly elven lover, Fenris. This time it was Josephine who interrupted.

"Oh my, I've heard about him. The handsome, silver haired elf with the lyrium tattoos. He's currently the scourge of Tevinter slavers the length and breadth of Thedas. How I would love to catch a glimpse of him..."

He and Leliana had both looked at her, and she'd blushed, staring down at the ground.

"It's just a rather romantic thought, you know, him saving others from the fate that he had escaped himself. The once slave, freeing the almost slaves."

Once he'd established that he'd not been romantically attached to anyone either of the women knew, they started questioning him on what he actually knew about female anatomy. This had to have been the most uncomfortable part of the day for all three of them. After he'd stuttered out that he knew enough about where things had to go, Leliana had nodded.

"The rest you can pick up from the library. I can recommend a few titles, but Cassandra knows more about the romance novels section than I do. You'd best ask her."

Cullen had gazed across at her, completely gobsmacked. Cassandra? Read romantic fiction? What? He'd raised an eyebrow in question, then Josephine had nodded.

"Oh yes, she's read them all. She even has a private stash of Varric's old romance series 'Swords and Shields'. It's trashy, but it's so bad it's good. You'll pick up some good tips from those, if you can get her to give them up."

You learned something new everyday. Cullen couldn't stop a grin from creeping across his face as he imagined himself asking Cassandra for a loan of her romance novels. He'd most likely end up with a black eye.

They'd finished talking at that point, and the ladies had stood up to leave, when Leliana turned around and gave him one more random piece of advice that almost floored him.

"Oh, Commander, one last thing... One thing that all the ladies absolutely love, but are generally too shy or afraid to ask for..."

She'd leaned in and whispered it into his ear, but even a few feet away Josephine was nodding in agreement.

"Oh yes, please tell him to do that. If the Inquisitor misses out, well... What's the point of any of this?"

Leliana had pulled away, grinning at the blush which now covered his features, and walked away with Josephine to find some lunch.

"Trust me, Commander, if she doesn't love you yet, she definitely will after you do 'that' for her."

The two women had both started giggling as they walked away, and were now whispering to each other like school girls. And now here he was sitting in his office, thinking about this newest piece of information. Putting his mouth... down there. On her. Maker. Certainly, he heard the other male recruits during templar training speaking about how they'd gotten some bar wench or other to do that exact thing to them, but he hadn't even thought that you could do the same to a woman, and that she'd find it enjoyable. And how would he know if he was doing it right? Oh, wait, he'd probably be able to tell by the sounds she'd be making. Her sighing moan returned to him, unbidden, and once again his trousers became uncomfortabley tight. If he could elicit those sounds just from brushing his lips over her neck, imagine the sounds that might occur by slipping his tongue inside... A sigh escaped his own lips as he imagined her laying beneath him, urging him on with her fingers tangling in his hair... Maker's Balls, how long was she going to be away again?

~Lilah's evening~

They decided to set up camp in the palace itself, seeing as it was now devoid of any mercenaries, and Dorian had worked on healing Lilah's bruised throat. Her rasping cough was now gone, and the bruises from the mercenary leader's gauntleted fingers were also faded. He had noticed the now fading love bite on her throat though, and was absolutely dying to ask her about it. Just before sunset, she and Sera picked up their bathing things and started to head down to the clear natural pools below to bathe and wash the worst of the blood off their armour. Dorian picked up his things and followed them. Bull looked after him, eyes narrowing.

"Girl talk. You wouldn't understand."

Bull sniffed, readying the fire and thrusting some ram meat onto the spit. Girl talk his ass. Dorian reached the pool just as both girls were beginning to wash their faces, and they both looked up at him, warily. He couldn't wait to ask the question.

"Lilah... Who left that love bite on your neck?"

Sera immediately started cackling, and continued on with her washing. Lilah dropped her soap in the grass by the side of the pool and looked up at him with wide eyed panic.

"Oh shit. You saw it when you were healing me, didn't you?"

Dorian nodded, now looking at her with deep interest.

"It's clearly someone at Skyhold because it looked rather fresh... Possibly from this morning... Oh my, is that why you were late? You stayed up late playing about with some secret lover while I got an early night knowing we were coming out today? That's a proper double standard, that."

Lilah sighed and looked away, clearly defeated.

"Look, I know there's no denying it. Yes, I have a... err... someone that I care about, and yes we were fooling around a little last night. And this morning."

Dorian dropped his washing things on the ground and crossed his arms.

"Well, who is it then?"

Sera stopped chuckling long enough to flick some soap bubbles in Dorian's general direction. They landed on his nose, making him sneeze.

"She's not telling. She didn't tell me yesterday when she showed me a whole crop of love bites all over her chest, and she's probably not going to tell us now either. Spoilsport."

Dorian looked over at the dark haired rogue who was now blushing as deeply as the sunset on the mountains behind them.

"Well, as long as he makes you happy, dearest, I have nothing else to say on the matter. Now let's get these bloodstains out."

They all sat down on the edge of the pool, scrubbing at the bloodstains the mercenaries had left on their armour, then headed back up to the palace when they smelled the meat starting to cook. After a good meal they all settled down in their bedrolls under the stars. Lilah looked up, knowing that Cullen would also be seeing the same constellations through the now massive hole in his roof. She smiled to herself, then turned over, wishing him a silent good night before drifting off to sleep.

~Cullen's evening~

Cullen managed to avoid both Leliana and Josephine for the rest of the day, even until the evening meal. He'd spotted Cassandra but couldn't bring himself to mention the romance books. He still couldn't really believe she read such nonsense, but then again he didn't really know that much about the Seeker's private life at all.

He decided to wander up to the library later, when there'd be less people there, and scope out the romance section, perhaps even borrow a couple of the titles Leliana had suggested so he'd have a few more ideas about what Lilah might enjoy the next time they were alone together. And after they'd had a proper conversation first, as was the rule that Lilah had instated that very morning. A conversation for an indulgence... he had to say he almost enjoyed both things the same, but honestly now that Leliana and Josephine had planted 'those' thoughts in his head, all he could think about was bedding her, and bedding her thoroughly. And if the romance novels had any interesting advice in them, who was he not to take advantage?

Cullen finished eating quickly, and ducked into the library on the way back to his office. He sandwiched three of the romance books Leliana had suggested between two large volumes of statistics and war strategy, and practically ran back to his office for fear of being caught with such ridiculous reading material. Once back in his office, he closed all three doors and climbed up to his bedroom, placing the three small volumes on his bedside table. He didn't need to read them tonight, he had another couple of days until Lilah returned home. He was also feeling rather drained after giving and receiving so much private and personal information today. He could do with a good nights sleep. He undid his armour and whipped the blue shirt off over his head, shucking the pants as he wandered over to his still messy bed and collapsed into it. Maker, he could still smell her perfume on his pillow... He lay back, looking up at the stars, smiling wryly as he realised he hadn't mentioned his broken roof to any of the builders yet. Maybe he would just fix it himself. He yawned, and turned over on his side, facing the side of the bed Lilah had slept on the previous night. He hoped she was missing him as much as he was missing her.

"Good night, Inquisitor."

END OF PART 02

How's this for coming soon, huh? Boom! Alrighty, hope you guys are enjoying it, I still have three more days of holidays left so finger's crossed I knock another chapter off before I get back to work. If not, I'm sorry in advance for any long delays! As always, read, review and enjoy! Part 3 coming soon (but obviously not as soon as part 2!)

Foxfire out!


	3. Keeping Secrets Part 03

Running the Gauntlet - A Dragon Age Inquistion Fan Fiction by Foxfire79 (Cullen/Inquisitor)

Disclaimer: I don't work for Bioware, nor have I ever been involved with the creation of any of the characters within the Dragon Age universe. I'm just playing with them (as we were meant to). The only original characters are the ones I created in-game, and have brought over to the fanfic universe, namely Lilah Trevelyan, my human female rogue Inquisitor who is now living through a second incarnation and yet another playthrough (and another romance with Cullen, of course). Apparently I still like being a rogue, human and female. Who knew?

It's happening!

~Lilah's Morning~

No matter how many times she slept in them, Lilah could not find bedrolls comfortable. She blearily blinked her eyes open, urging her muscles to allow her to sit up on the stony ground as she perused her companions. Sera was still snoring, lying on her back, one arm flung over her face. Dorian was sitting up, looking in equal parts stupefied and annoyed. He gave her a slight wave, then excused himself to the 'Little Mages' Room' to relieve himself. Seeing as there was no actual room to do this, he wandered down to the creek where they'd washed themselves and their armour the previous night. The Iron Bull was nowhere to be found. Lilah assumed he was visiting the 'Little Qunari's Room' to do the same as Dorian, then laughed out loud. Iron Bull had probably never been referred to as little in his life, even as a child. She wandered up to the small pond behind the palatial residence they'd now 'acquired' for the Inquisition and knelt down, scooping some of the cool, clear water into her hands to wash her face. Her reflection looked a little pale in the rippling water, and she sighed. Maybe this is what having a near-death experience did to a person, she thought, as she ran her fingers over her no longer bruised but still slightly tender throat.

"Feeling alright, Boss?"

Lilah jumped as Iron Bull's reflection appeared in the pond next to hers.

"Maker's Balls, Bull! Don't sneak up on a woman at this time of the day!" Bull appeared indifferent to her outburst, now looking into the pool at his own reflection. He reached up and scratched behind his right horn, then looked down at her as she sat on the ground.

"Sorry. I told you I could be sneaky when I had to, though. But you could never look bad, Boss. If this is as bad as it gets, Well, I'm certainly not put off." Lilah closed her eyes, swearing inwardly. She definitely had to put him off, before he tried to flirt with her any further. She climbed back to her feet, brushing non-existent dust from her pants as she turned to face him.

"Listen, Bull..." He silenced her by placing one of his substantial fingers over her lips, while shaking his head.

"Sorry Boss, me first this time. You know I was Ben Hassrath, right? I can read you like a book. You're seeing someone else. It must be serious too, I mean, you're turning down all this..." He gestured at his amazing physique at this point, and Lilah giggled at his brashness. "I can't say I'm not a little upset, and I will stress at this point..." He reached out and grabbed her shoulders, gently but with enough force that she couldn't move away, "That I think the both of us will be missing out on something... Well, if not certainly something very good, at least something interesting that we would remember for the rest of our lives, however long or short that is. That being said, I'm not going to interfere with this relationship of yours, but whoever this guy is, if he turns out to be a bastard and hurts you in anyway, I will kill him." Lilah could tell he was being serious. She placed her hands over his and looked up at him, trying to hold back a smile.

"Thanks, Bull. I'm fairly certain that I won't need any of your extensive services. Any of them. Thanks for the offer, though." Bull nodded, releasing her shoulders, and stretched his neck to both sides, cracking it loudly. He smiled, then turned to walk away, heading over to where they'd slept the previous night in the left-hand pavilion. He stopped after a few steps, then turned around to address her again.

"We're still going after the dragon today, right?" Lilah nodded, following a few steps behind. "Yes! I swear you are the best boss we've ever had. The fighting, the drinking, proper living quarters... This! This is the life!" He fell in step with her, clapping her on the back so hard she almost went flying. He reached out and grabbed her arm before she actually fell over, a look of concern crossing over his face. "Shit, sorry! Maybe it's a good thing we're not getting together, I'd probably throw you out of a window or something..." Lilah started laughing, grasping Bull's arm as she stumbled back to her feet.

"I'm glad you like my leadership techniques, I'll be sure to tell the Advisors when we get back..." Upon mentioning the Advisors, Lilah could feel her cheeks turning an unwanted pink. She glanced at Bull, then looked away when she noticed his eyes widening and his nostrils flaring slightly as he undoubtedly sensed a certain shift in her demeanor. If anyone could figure out she was seeing Cullen, it would be him. He wouldn't even have to pry, he'd just have to see them together and he'd know. She decided to take the bull by the horns, so to speak. "Listen, Bull... Once you realise who it is I'm seeing, please don't tell anyone else. Especially Varric. He's already writing a new serialised novel based on the Inquisition, I'd prefer if he left my love life out of it. I would owe you quite a big favour..." Bull stopped in his tracks, raising one hand. Lilah stopped speaking, hoping the favour wouldn't be too ridiculous.

"The only thing I ask is that whenever you hear of a dragon, I want to come along and slay it with you." Lilah blinked up at him, then broke into a huge smile.

"No problem. You'll be top of my list for dragon slaying. Now I suppose I have to try and wake 'that' up..." They'd made it back to the pavilion to find Dorian standing over a still-sleeping Sera, looking exasperated.

"I've tried rolling her over, nudging her feet, blowing in her ears... I stopped short of using magic to throw a bucket of water over her because, well, Sera hates magic, but still! We need to get moving." Lilah sighed and shoved him lightly aside, moving in close to whisper in the elven woman's ear.

"Dagna's taking a bath in the woods!" Sera's eyes sprang open, and she all but flew out of her bedroll. Lilah leaned back, chuckling to herself as the elf took in her surroundings, her confusion giving way to annoyance. She scowled at Lilah even as Dorian handed her the still-slightly-bloody boots and her arm brace and started rolling up her bedroll. Iron Bull barked out a laugh and finished strapping on the rest of his gear, and Lilah just shook her head. "You're incorrigible. Hurry up, there's dragons on the menu!"

"Oh, ha ha. Just wait until I find out who you're shagging, then it'll be payback time."

All four of them grabbed a chunk of bread and some cheese for breakfast and started heading back down the hill towards the road they'd come up the previous afternoon. It was still littered with dead mercenaries, who would begin rotting soon enough under this scorching sun. Ah well, the Inquisition troops would undoubtedly burn the bodies once they came to claim the palace for themselves. Their packs were already almost too heavy to carry, so they'd placed them on the three remaining horses and had elected to walk for the rest of the day. It would be a long walk, too, looking at the 'map' that had been drawn for them. The vague area where the dragon had been sighted was a rather large wobbly blob drawn in by hand on the right side with the words 'Dragon, Possibly?' scrawled into the margin. It wasn't much to go on. All they could do was head North-West and hope for the best.

~Cullen's Morning~

Cullen yawned, then frowned, wondering why something felt different this morning from any other morning. He didn't feel as rested as he usually would, for one thing, and he knew he'd slept well. The it hit him. He missed her. He missed Lilah. He frowned to himself, shaking his head. No, that couldn't be it, she'd gone away many, many other times before... But this time it was different. This time he could have been holding her in his arms after sleeping together in his bed again, he could have been kissing her secretly in his office before she sneaked back to her own chambers to start the day. He could have had his hands all over her sweet body, breathing in the intoxicating perfume of her skin while they intertwined beneath his sheets... He could feel his body heat rising just thinking about her, and his temperature wasn't the only thing rising... Maker's Breath.

He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw, willing himself to calm down before getting dressed and heading down the ladder to his empty, lonely office. He glanced at his desk, and remembered her perching on the edge of it, chatting and laughing with him just two days earlier. Maybe today would be a good day to see how the troops were faring. He knew the Bull's Chargers were out on a scouting mission around the Haven ruins, so there was no point looking for Krem. That new young fellow, Sutherland, was also out with his band of friends, doing some easy patrol work around the Hinterlands. The only option left were the fresh recruits, the people who'd only just arrived and had literally just been handed a sword and wished good luck. He pushed his sword into the scabbard at his waist, dismissing any dirty thoughts that image brought to him, and headed down to the kitchen to grab some food before the morning's advisors' meeting. Since he was actually running early he'd be able to linger in the hall and actually eat properly before heading in.

The kitchen door was already half open, and he could hear the head cook bellowing something at his underlings about 'leaving the bloody ice chest open again'. Cullen at least knew that it wasn't himself or Lilah this time, and he couldn't help smirking about that as he slipped into the room. The staff all fell silent as they recognised the intruder as the Commander of their standing army, and allowed him to grab a wooden bowl which he filled with the still steaming porridge in the pot. One of the kitchen girls also handed him a chunk of cheese and some bread, whispering at him 'not to forget lunch this time' before the cook started bellowing again, this time about the state of the mashed potatoes.

Cullen sidled out the back door, and went to climb up the back stairs which led to the Main hall, when an almost hidden door caught his eye. It was to the far left of the large empty space they were still yet to fill, an area he never generally frequented. He knew the wine cellar was down here, somewhere, but he'd never really had to go in there either. Perhaps I should explore this place a little more, he thought as he shoveled a hot spoonful of porridge into his mouth. He headed towards the mystery door, rubbing some cobwebs from the doorknob with his sleeve before grasping it and opening the door. A large puff of dusty air blew into his face, making him blink and sneeze. Once the air cleared, Cullen blew out an impressed breath as he surveyed what he'd discovered.

"Is this... It is! A secret library." His first thought, of course, was that Lilah was going to love this, and possibly love him for finding it. The place looked untouched. There was inches of dust on the floor, and as he stepped inside his boots kicked up little flurries of grey particles which made the air almost sparkle. He suddenly remembered he still had the bowl and spoon in his hand, and he ate another mouthful while he surveyed the shelves. The books appeared to be mostly arcane in nature, but he knew from watching her around the library on occasion that she enjoyed all manner of reading material. There was a huge desk in the centre of the room, also covered in dusty tomes, and dust. Dust seemed to be the running theme of this room. Cullen hoped that the contents of the books hadn't also crumbled to dust, and he was delighted when he plucked a random volume from a shelf and found all of the pages to be intact. He nodded to himself, replacing the volume on the shelf. He now knew what he was going to do for the rest of today.

He gobbled down the last few bites of breakfast in his bowl, then backed out of the room, shutting the door firmly behind him. He grasped the empty bowl in his hand and loped up the stairs, two at a time, reaching the top quickly and pushing the door that led to the Main hall open. He left the empty bowl on one of the long eating tables, and took a large bite of the cheese wedge the kitchen girl had given him. It was Orlesian and not as bitey as he would have liked, but still, in the end, cheese was cheese. He finished the wedge, but left the bread in his pocket. Last time, Leliana and Josephine had eaten almost all of his breakfast. Today he wasn't going to let that happen.

He opened the door leading down to the Council room, and found Josephine still seated behind her desk, issuing orders to one of her long suffering assistants. She stifled a yawn, then noticed Cullen standing just inside her doorway before nodding at her assistant slightly and returning her pen to its inkwell.

"Thank you, Mari, that will be all for now. I'll see you in around an hour." The poor young woman nodded, looking slightly bewildered, and started to back out of the room.

"Yes, Lady Montilyet. I'll try and work my way through your list until then." Josephine sighed, rubbing her right hand over her forehead.

"These young ones... They don't want to fight, or scout, or spy, or cook, or do anything slightly out of their comfort zone. Even at a time like this. This will be my third assistant in as many weeks, I can see the pressure getting to her already. I'm not even overloading them, Cullen, this is just the overflow of what I can't deal with every day. The easiest things..." She threw her hands up in the air, rolling her eyes. Cullen chuckled and moved further into the room.

"Everyone will eventually find their place. It just seems to take some longer than others. And these young lords and ladies, who've never had to work a day in their lives are suddenly thrown into a situation where they have to pick up swords, or rakes, or pens and just start doing things they've never had to do before... I'm surprised they're doing as well as they are." Josephine looked at him with wide eyes and stifled a giggle.

"Why, Commander Cullen, that sounded almost... tolerant of you. I thought you hated the nobility?" Cullen looked away quickly, his cheeks turning slightly pink.

"Maybe the nobility is growing on me." He almost growled the sentence, as he felt the heat in his cheeks rising. Josephine smiled, and sighed dramatically.

"Ah, young love, it's a truly beautiful thing..." Cullen glowered at her, even though his cheeks were burning, which made her laugh even harder. Young love, indeed! They were around the same age, if anything he was older! He knew she was just teasing him, but still... Maker's Breath... While Cullen was still huffing about Josephine's teasing comments, Leliana entered the room and surveyed the situation.

"Now, now, Josie, leave our poor Commander alone. You know he doesn't like to discuss these things." Josephine sobered up, looking suitably contrite, before standing up from her desk to head into the Council room with both of them. "Now, let's not waste any time today. Maker knows we wasted enough yesterday discussing Cullen's love life and how he should best satisfy the Inquisitor..." Cullen looked over at Leliana and saw that she, too, was struggling to hide a grin. His left hand went unconsciously to the back of his neck as the heavy door closed behind them, sealing them in for the morning meeting. Hopefully they would actually get some work done today.

~Lilah's Afternoon~

"What on Thedas are they doing?" Dorian handed the spyglasses back to Iron Bull, looking confused. Sera reached over and snagged them from the Qunari's hands before he had a chance to lift them to his own eyes, and squinted in the direction they'd been peering.

"No idea, but they're certainly not acting like any bandits I've ever seen before..." Lilah reached over Dorian, pulling the spyglasses to her own eyes to scope out the situation.

"Why do they keep ducking behind that rocky outcrop? Are they playing hide and seek?" Sera giggled at this, and Iron Bull took the opportunity to grab his spyglasses back so he could professionally assess the 'bandits' activities.

"I think they've noticed us looking at them, seeing as we're not exactly quiet. And for some reason, they're trying to lure us into that ravine." He wiped the end of the glasses clean on Sera's pants, which elicited an 'Oiy, watch it!' from the elf, and hung them back onto his belt.

They'd decided to leave the horses at one of the Inquisition camps they'd passed through, along with the superfluous weaponry they'd accumulated during their many mercenary battles. At any rate, it was easier to sneak about without the horses. Then they'd noticed movement in the hills heading towards the edge of the map, where they may or indeed may not stumble across a dragon. Iron Bull still had his hopes up. They'd stopped atop a small hill a kilometre or so away from where they'd seen something reflecting, and this was where they'd been ever since, watching the bizarre antics through Iron Bull's magnifying goggles. Lilah looked down the hill at the now tiny marauders.

"Well, what do you want to do? Run into that fairly obvious trap? Or just forget the whole thing?" Bull looked at her incredulously. He stood up and pointed in the direction of the ravine.

"That's where the dragon might possibly be, right?" Lilah nodded, and Dorian sighed melodramatically.

"Fasta vass, not this again! You know how he gets about dragons... 'Are we there yet?', 'Is this where the dragon is?', 'When do I get to kill a dragon, finally?!' I think we all know what the answer is: Yes, we are going to run right into the fairly obvious trap, hopefully survive it, and then go and kill the bloody dragon!" Iron Bull blinked, or possibly winked, and smiled crookedly at Lilah.

"It's like the Vint can read my mind!" Sera yawned and stood up also, stretching out her shoulders.

"I'm up for whatever; Dragons, bears, bandits, if it wants an arrow in it's eye, I'm your girl!" Lilah scrambled up onto her knees, then took Dorian's offered hand to help her stand the rest of the way.

"Well, that's settled then. So are we just going to go straight... Oh." Her sentence dwindled away as she watched Iron Bull and Sera sprint down the hill at full pelt, Sera already firing arrows as she went. Dorian glanced at her sideways, then peered gingerly down the green grass before them. "Well, if they managed it, we should be able to. Just maybe... can you cast barrier on us? Just in case we trip and fall. Not that I'm saying we will, but..." Dorian patted her on the shoulder, still looking rather green.

"Good call, cousin. Very good call. Barrier up..." Lilah felt the comforting drape of the magical shield fall over them, and she reached out and grasped Dorian's hand again. He grinned and gripped it tightly, then faced down the rather steep hill. They could see Bull running around, and hear him (albeit now muffled slightly by the barrier) whooping with joy every time he made a hit, and Sera jumping about firing arrows like she had an endless supply. "Let's not let them have all the fun. Ready... Set..." They both leapt forward on 'Go!', still holding hands, screeching with terror and delight as they simultaneously slid and ran down the slippery slope towards the battle. Bull looked up from his newly dead quarry, wiping his axe blade clean on the grass as the breathless rogue and mage made it to the bottom of the hill.

"Glad you could make it, we saved the big guys for you." Lilah groaned loudly when she saw the two burly men in heavy armour approaching, both hefting identical mauls over their shoulders.

"Not more of these..." Dorian laughed, and threw down some ice mine runes at the two advancing figures. They didn't notice and walked right into them, both getting thrown up into the air only to be smashed into the still frozen rocks below. Lilah swooped in, slicing into their shoulders while they were still prostrate on the ground, and soon the ice was slick with blood. One had lost his helmet in the fall, and Lilah deftly leaned in and slit his throat, while Iron Bull crushed the other unfortunate man's head with his heavy boot. "Ha! Now that's what I call teamwork!" Bull nodded, grinning in response.

The light was starting to fade, as they made their way into the ravine to scope out what the bandits had been protecting. Surprisingly, there was nothing there, except an almost hidden path which seemed to lead further into the valley. They could hear an occasional faint noise like a roar coming from the tunnel, but it could have just been the wind. Lilah unlocked the cage with the homing raven the Inquisition camp had lent them, and wrote a quick message saying they'd found a new place suitable to set up camp. She included a small map showing the area and where the ravine was, and hoped the troops would be there before it was too dark. They hadn't even brought tents with them, assuming they'd be coming out to kill a dragon then heading straight back. How long did it take to kill a dragon anyway? She patted the bird on it's head, and it nibbled on her finger before flying off in the direction they'd left from at midday.

Lilah sighed, realising she'd be spending yet another night away from Cullen. She'd really hoped they'd be able to get these simple tasks done within the day. Mercenary fortress, found. Key to Valammar, found. (Varric was going to be so annoyed. He didn't want to go anywhere near the Deep Roads). She hadn't factored getting almost killed by the Mercenary leader into her timing schedule, or how far away the dragon sighting was from the palace. She was going to be away a lot longer than she'd proposed. Lilah hoped Cullen was feeling just as frustrated as she was. Every time she thought of him she could feel her heart starting to race. Luckily she'd managed to not give in and pleasure herself last night, seeing as they had all been sleeping in a group out in the open, but within the confines of a tent... She knew she shouldn't but the need was there. Cullen had started the itch, and by the Maker it was only thoughts of him, or the man himself, that could scratch it. She hoped the troops would arrive soon. The sooner the better.

~Cullen's Evening~

"Well, that's slightly better." Cullen wiped his hand wearily across his brow as he surveyed the slightly less dusty secret library. Lilah was going to be absolutely thrilled. The shelves were now clean, and he'd wiped the spines of all of the books before replacing them. He'd been at it for hours, of course. Pretty much as soon as the morning meeting had finished, he'd grabbed some old clothes and found himself a bucket and some rags and had headed down into the basement. His clothes were now completely black, and he imagined his hair and face were not faring too well either, from the amount of dust and soot coming away every time he wiped his eyes. Luckily he had been wearing a cloth over his mouth and nose, because the amount of dust he'd stirred up had been phenomenal. He had found himself sneezing quite a bit anyway, and was now hoping he hadn't made himself ill from being stuck in the dusty room all day. It was absolutely worth it though.

The library looked amazing, the braziers were so clean they could almost have been new, and the polished oak floor was almost dazzling to behold. Cullen couldn't wait to sneak Lilah down there to show her the secret place he'd created for her. Then his mind started to wander again. A secret space, only for Lilah and himself... He imagined how she'd thank him, by pressing that lithe body up against his while kissing him, letting her hands wander over the muscles of his stomach until she reached the waistband of his trousers, only this time he wouldn't stop her from going further. On 'Potion Night' she'd tried to strip him bare, but he hadn't allowed it, knowing she wasn't in her right mind. Now, with all the thoughts that Leliana and Josephine had put into his head yesterday, and from his own knowledge of Lilah's body and how she reacted to him, well... If she wanted to strip him naked and take him on the floor of this quiet little sanctuary, by all means he'd let it happen! The large leather chair in front of the desk lent itself to fantasies as well. Cullen could already imagine sitting there while she pleasured him with her mouth and tongue, and vice versa. Since the ladies had first put that idea into his head the previous day he'd hardly been able to think of anything else. He curled his hands into fists, resting them gently on the edge of the desk while trying to get his body under control.

He needed a bath. A cold one. He left the bucket and rags outside the kitchen door and sneaked through quietly, heading out through the Skyhold gate to one of the few places he'd managed to keep secret. On their travels, before they'd finally discovered Skyhold, Cullen had found a natural hot-spring pool, right next to another pool fed by a waterfall. The cold water mixed with the hot water near the centre, but if one wanted a cold shower, well, you'd just stay near the waterfall. And that was what he needed now. He looked down at his clothes, looked at the pool, shrugged and jumped straight in, fully clothed. He would have had to have washed his clothes anyway, and this was saving time. He waded through the chest deep water and stood beneath the waterfall, letting the chilled water sluice down over his head and shoulders. If this didn't stop him from pleasuring himself tonight, nothing would. He eventually climbed out of the water and walked the short distance back to Skyhold completely saturated. His body was definitely under control now, except he had, of course, missed dinner. Cursing, he wandered back to his office, thankfully not running into anyone in his oddly damp state.

He climbed the ladder up to his bedroom, and berated himself once more for not fixing the hole in his roof. The fireflies were fine. The moths were not. He gave his hair a light toweling off and dried the rest of his body before climbing into bed and crawling under all the blankets. He was definitely feeling quite chilled, and once more hoped he wasn't coming down with something. It just wouldn't do to be sick when Lilah returned... He started to think about how he'd welcome her home and he immediately felt his member twitch. Bloody Void! But then again, wasn't it bad to deny the body what it wanted? Cullen sighed and reached down, finally giving in to his baser instincts. Hopefully he'd sleep better tonight.

~Lilah's Night~

Lilah bit down on her hand as waves of pleasure shook her, and prayed to Andraste that nobody had heard her giving in. The men had arrived with the tents, and there had been enough for one each, and all set up before moon rise. Bull had insisted on seeing where the tunnel went, and had returned triumphant stating that the new area 'had the smell of dragons about it!'. Sera had asked him what dragons' smelled like, and he's simply stated 'you'll find out.' before wandering off into his own tent. They'd all decided on early nights because the dragon was 'literally around the corner, guys, come on!'. Then, of course, Lilah had started thinking about Cullen, and his clever fingers, and his love bites, and the way his body seemed to fit perfectly between her thighs... She couldn't help it, and now she was done, completely embarrassed, and hoping nobody had heard her fervent almost breathed whispering of Cullen's name as she'd reached completion. Sweet Maker, she hoped they hadn't heard that.

~Iron Bull, Sera and Dorian's Night~

They'd all crept into Dorian's tent as soon as Lilah had retired to discuss who they thought the lucky man was. Dorian's money was on Blackwall, Sera had been backing Iron Bull, but once he told her straight up that it wasn't him she'd had to regroup and rethink, and Iron Bull had told them he was convinced that it was Solas.

"It's just because he keeps going on about elfy-elves all the time, right? He's trying to put us off by saying all that, and then he's off shagging a human. I can totally see that now!" Sera collapsed back onto Dorian's bedroll, nursing her bottle of wine like a baby. Dorian shook his head, thumping his fist against the floor, almost spilling his goblet.

"That's just what he wants us to think, him with his sneaky Qunari spy-ways. It's Blackwall, I'm certain. They always used to have those little chats out by the stables at Haven. 'Little chats'! My aunt's hairy chin! That was pure foreplay!" Iron Bull was distracted. He was only half paying attention to their slightly drunk conversation as he could could hear slight movements coming from Lilah's tent. He was certain that had been a sigh... Oh no. He knew what he was listening to. Curse his brilliant Qunari hearing! But since he was already listening... He could hear her nearing her climax, then... Oh my.

"Cullen?!" He blurted it out before he could stop himself, and Sera and Dorian just stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Cullen? What about him?" Sera looked confused, but Dorian's mouth dropped open as he realised what was happening.

"Did she just...? Did you just hear her...?" Bull nodded numbly, as he realised he'd just broken the promise he'd made to Lilah earlier that day. Dorian's mouth opened and closed a few more times in shock, then he put down his goblet. "Well then. Good for her!" Sera still looked confused.

"What do you mean? Good for who? Wait, wait, wait, hold on..." She seemed to be regaining her senses, very slowly. "Are you saying... Lilah... and Cullen? Cullen was the one that left love bites all over her? Ex-Templar Cullen, the giant jack-boot?" Bull still looked shocked about giving up the secret so easily, but Dorian nodded back at her, grinning widely. "Well. Yeah, good for her, I guess..." Dorian grasped Iron Bull's shoulder, sensing his ire at himself, and tried to placate him.

"Don't worry, Bull. We won't tell anyone. If they find out on their own, however, well... That's an entirely different story!" Bull glared up at the overly gleeful mage, and silently wished him a painful death. Sera, on the other hand, had started giggling hysterically.

"Oh, Maker's Balls! He heard her! He heard her with his super Qunari spy hearing! 'Oh, Cully-wully, I love you so! Kiss me with your mighty templar lips!' I am going to get her tomorrow morning! Payback!" Bull let his head fall forward, resting his horns on his forearms. This was a bloody nightmare.

END OF PART 03

Sooo... How's everybody doing? Yeah, firstly I am so sorry about the, what, like six month gap where I didn't write anything. That was entirely my bad, but hey, you know, work and stuff! I'm on holiday until the end of January, so hopefully I'll be able to knock a few chapters out for everything by then! So yeah, in summary, I am still alive, I am still writing, I was just really distracted playing Fallout 4... Forget I said that! As always, read, review and enjoy!

Foxfire out!


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